Government Help for Charities and SMEs?

One benefit of BREXIT which has been eagerly awaited by charities and businesses who tender for public sector contracts has been an overhaul of the cumbersome EU Procurement Regulations. This started in earnest in June 2020 with the publication of the new guide for buyers "The Outsourcing Playbook". This was followed by the far less popular instruction for all buyer to set aside as least 10% of the tender score for Social Value compliance, the price of which which could not be included in the tender price, and indeed proposing the "monetisation of outputs. This, in effect, involves a financial penalty on the failure to deliver outputs proposed in the tender.

A Green Paper setting out the Government's proposals for new Procurement Regulations" was published in February 2021 which the White Paper and Bill to be laid before Parliament in the Autumn. Although this is still awaited, Statutory Guidance in the Form of Public Procurement Notes (PPNs) started to appear during August.

The first of these (PPN 11/21: Reserving Below Threshold Procurements) is intended to help charities and SMEs. It is intended that over the coming months more contracts will be reserved for tendering by charities and SMEs only; also giving buyers the opportunity to limit tenders to providers located in a given geographical location.

Whilst the intention is sound, the proposal has a sting in the tail. Our four page summary of the long Guidance document sets out the essentials for Trustees/Directors, Senior Managers, Business development Managers, and all involved in the tendering and contracting process. Two more PPNs have now been published, more are expected and the White Paper is due to be published soon. We will make reviews of these documents available as they are published; for those looking for more detail online courses are planned to be available from the end of the year'

To receive your copy of "PPN 11/21 Reserving Below Threshold Contracts" (September 2021) and to be added to our mailing list to receive information about the new regulatory system as it develops please email [email protected]. Please write PPN 11/21 in the subject line.