Not a hot take on the UK's Procurement Bill

As anticipated, the UK Government has moved at tremendous speed to introduce the Procurement Bill for Parliamentary passage. The text of the Bill as introduced, and information on the Parliamentary process, are available here.

The Procurement Bill comprises 116 sections and 11 schedules, and it will take some careful reading to identify how the Bill:

  • meets the UK’s international commitments under the WTO GPA, the EU-UK TCA, and other FTAs with procurement chapters;

  • deviates from the current EU-derived Public Contracts Regulations 2015, and the rest of the regulations transposing EU procurement law;

  • embeds the key changes resulting from the Transforming Public Procurement consultation — which will also largely depend on secondary legislation and guidance yet to be published;

  • generates potential interpretative issues that could be ironed out through the Parliamentary procedure; and

  • is likely to work out in practice to deliver the ambitious goals of the UK Government.

So this is not material suitable for a hot take. Sorry to disappoint! I will try to publish a more considered view by the end of the month, although it may take longer… For now, happy reading of the Bill.